Asinine Way to Treat Ultimate Asset: People

The Bush administration is doing the economy long term harm by not reforming our post-9/11 immigration and visa policies. Since the terrorist attacks, foreigners have had to go through considerably more hassle to enter this country. No one is arguing about the mortal necessity of tightening our screening procedures. But it defies belief that this, the most technologically advanced of nations, can't come up with software and hardware to expeditiously assist in determining who should and should not gain entrée.

Despite the weak dollar, the number of visitors from overseas during the past three years is down 23%. International conventions and seminars are not taking place in the U.S. because organizers can't be sure their delegates will be allowed into the country.

More alarmingly, foreign students are increasingly turning to non-U.S. universities. Australia, Canada and other nations have been effectively luring these students by assuring them that if they qualify, they won't have to undergo repeated, humiliating hassles at their borders. By contrast, foreign students now in the U.S. know that when they go home for summer vacation or holidays, their probability of returning to school is no sure thing.

Unless wannabe visitors to the U.S. are from one of 27 visa-free countries, they are required to pay a $100 application fee for a visa. This fee is not refunded if an application is denied. To add insult to injury, the "30-day" processing time for a visa can turn into months.

Our high-tech companies are vitally dependent on immigrant brainpower. Our schools are not turning out the numbers of American scientists and technologists that we so badly need.

In years past most foreign-born graduate students remained in the U.S. after completing their studies. Now they are in a minority--a declining one at that. Technology guru George Gilder has not-so-facetiously suggested that when overseas graduate students complete their studies here, green cards should be embossed on their diplomas.

Thankfully we may avoid making the situation infinitely worse. The U.S. appears poised to back down from its demand that by. Oct. 26 any new passports issued by the nations that make up the Visa-Waiver Program be biometric in order for their citizens to enter this country. Congressional leaders had indicated that this deadline--already pushed back once--would not be extended again. The affected countries have been making good-faith efforts to comply, but only about half of them would be able to meet this deadline. Not surprisingly, the European Union has been threatening to give U.S. visitors a rougher time if we don't ease the time limit again: It looks as though the U.S. may be willing to accept digitally scanned photographs instead of biometric chips. This could still adversely affect many potential visitors from Italy and France, which use laminated photos that don't meet digital standards.

A more immediate problem concerns H-1B visas, which allow companies here to hire immigrants with critical high-tech skills. These folks can work in the U.S. for a maximum of six years. Last year the quota for these special visas was filled in six months. High-tech outfits are continually frustrated by their inability to bring in people who can help them compete and grow. So why not raise the quota--or better yet--scrap it altogether?

We are gratuitously hurting ourselves--competitively and diplomatically--at a time when South Korea, India, China and others are rapidly ramping up their high-tech efforts to surpass the U.S.

Bury This Cartel

Nations aren't the only ones to engage in protectionism. In the U.S., cities and states routinely practice a variation of it through unnecessary regulations designed solely to protect certain professions from competition. This is what economists call "erecting barriers to entry." One blatant example is New York City, where you have to get a costly medallion in order to drive a yellow cab. Washington, D.C., by contrast, allows almost any able-bodied person with a valid driver's license and clean police record to enter the fleet.

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